They all have the skills to do the job, but the Ohio Department of Transportation wants to find out who is the best of the best.
For around 40 years, District One has brought in their workers from their eight-county region for a friendly rodeo competition. The drivers of the loaders and the snowplows were challenged to maneuver their equipment through an obstacle course, forwards and backward.
"Every day we expect them to perform with this type of equipment and today is just a good competitive day to let them show off their skills but it is definitely equipment that they use on a daily basis," explained Rod Nuveman, ODOT District 1 highway management administrator.
Jeromy Piehl trains the drivers of district one when they start, and he is happy to see that they not only retained what they have learned but picked up some other skills as well.
"Yeah, it's very challenging, very seldom where we are in these tight of conditions when we are out actually working, so we are challenging them quite a bit and it's nice to see that most of these guys have a lot of skills," stated Jeromy Piehl, ODOT District 1 training officer.
Besides the rodeo competition, ODOT District One got over 20 entries for their paint the plow competition. Students from high schools in their eight-county region showed off their artistic ability by decorating the plows. The last time they held paint the plow was in 2019. If you would like to help vote on the winner, log on to ODOT District One's Facebook page.
